One of our historic heritage sites in the North, the Dutch-built Jaffna Fort is to be restored to bring back its ancient majesty at a cost of Rs 100 million, provided by the government of Netherlands.
Maintenance of the Fort remained completely neglected until the Fort was recaptured by the Security Forces in the Riviresa operation in early 1996. The Fort was used by terrorists as a strong point, directing heavy fire towards the Security Forces, deployed outside and terrorists indiscriminately blasted several parts of the Fort perimeter being a historic heritage site, causing immense damages to it.
Similarly, demining troops had to undergo a lot of hardships as it took a longer time before it was opened to the public some time ago after demining.
Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, Commander of the Army at the request of archaeological authorities directed the Commander, Security Forces, Jaffna Major General M. Hathurusinghe to expedite demining work in the moat around the Fort since LTTE terrorists had heavily mined the area to prevent Security Forces from entering or regaining the Fort. At present, Engineer troops of the Army are demining round the clock in order to facilitate commencement of the planned foreign-funded renovation work.
Instructions to map out preliminary ground preparations for reconstruction and renovation were recently given to officials of the Department of Archaeology by Mrs. Pavithra Wanniarachchi, Minister of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage during an inspection tour to the site. A special meeting on the same subject followed later on at the District Secretariat.
Ven. Padderiye Gnanaloka Thero who is in charge of the Archaeological Zone, Commissioner General Archaeology Dr. Senarath Dissanayake, Secretary to the Ministry of Cultural Affairs and National Heritage Mr. Nimal Rubasinghe, New District Secretary for Jaffna Ms Imelda Suhumar and General Officer Commanding 51 Division Brigadier S. Wijesinghe joined the Minister during the inspection tour, made to the Fort site.
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